Car-door.



W. R. GARRLL.

CAR DOOR.

APPLxcATlQN, EILED Dc.19. 1,913.

Patented Apr.V 4

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lwuawboz WR. 607474022/ tbomm WILLIAM R. CARROLL, OF MANY, LOUISIANA.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

Application filed December 19, 1913. Serial No. 807,731.

To all {who/m t may concern.'

Be it known that I, IVILLTAM R. CARROLL,

a citizen of the United States, residing atV Many, in the parish of Sabine and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in sliding doors for railway cars, especially freight cars and other similar structures,

the invention consisting in the construction, combination, and 'arrangement ofgdevices, hereinafter described and claimed.Y n'

One object ofmy invention is to provide improved means for mounting a car door for sliding movement and to assist in the .opening of the door.

Another obiectv is to provide improved means for locking vthe car door in open'posiT tion.

In the accompanying drawings :`-I*`i riire l is a side elevation of a portion of a freight .car provided with doors and operating, Y

mounting and securing means therefor in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a A.vertical transverse sectional view on the plane indicated by theV line a-a of Fig. 1.

cated by the line -b of Fig. l. Fig. 4 isa detail horizontal sectional viewof the slidingV doors, showing the opposing edges thereof and showing the plates 1l and one of the supports 2l in plan. Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation showing one of the drums and its spring, and with the cap omitted.

For the purposes of this specication a wall or side of a freight car is indicated at l. n the outer side of the car wall, at a point below the bottom of the door opening is a projecting flange 2 on the upper side ofV which, at the center thereof, are tracks 3 which are provided with rack teeth 4 the said tracks being narrower than said flange. A pair of sliding doors 5 are provided which arel movable toward and from each other. At the lower side of each door is a supporting wheel 6 which is peripherally grooved as at 7 to provide flanges 8 which are arranged on opposite sides of one of the tracks 3 and bear directly on the supporting iange 2. These wheels have their upper sides arranged in substantially semi-circular recesses 9 and the axles 7.0 of said wheels are mounted in bearing openings in plates l1 which are arranged on opposite sides of the doors and secured thereto by bolts 12.

uderstood.

*Each door also has at. its lower side a supporting gear 13 which is provided with spur teeth that engage the rack teeth of one of the tracks 4. Ihese supporting gears 13 are also arranged in recesses in the lower sides of the doors and their axles 14 are mounted in Vbearing openings in plates l5 which are similar to the plates ll and are secured'onv oppositesides of the doors by bolts 16'. Each gear' 13 1s provided on one side with 'a centrally arranged drum l?, on which is arranged f a spring 1S, onejend ofthe spring being attached to the periphery'of the drum and the other end thereof' beine; secured on a screw 19y that connects the plates l5. A cap 20 is arranged on and serves to cover theV spring. The'springs are so coiled on the drums that they are wound up as the doors are opened, the spur teeth of the supporting gears 13 by engagement with the rack teeth of the tracks 4 causing said gears to be turned positively and prevented from slipping. Hence when the doors are in open position the springs, being wound, eXert their tension to turn the supporting gears inthe required direction to close the doors, las willbe un- The doors are provided VatV their upper and Alower ends with supports 21 which sustain them against pressure from within the car. 4The upper sides of the doors are engaged 'bv guides 22.

In order to enable the doors to be readily opened I provide each door with an operating cord 23 which in practice is preferably a wire cord of suitable gage. Each cord is attached at one end to one of the doors as at 24, extendsoutwardly from the door and passes over a pulley 25 which is mounted on the car wall on a suitable supporting shaft and at a suitable distance from one side of the door opening, the cord then hanging down from the pulley and being provided at its pendant end with a suitable handle 26 which may be readily grasped. It 4will be understood that by drawing down on the pendant ends of the cord the doors will be opened and the springs of the supporting gears of the doors will be wound up.

Stops 27 are provided to limit the move-y ment of the doors to open position, the said stops being here shown as springs which are attached to the wall 1. Each door is provided on its. outer side with a pivotally mounted latch 28 which project-s beyond its outer edge and is formed at its outer end with a Cain face 29 and with a shoulder 30. 

